Summer Camp- Help!!

[Cherry_Bombb]

Being as how my fiance is out of town every summer, I decided this year to get a job working at summer camp again. Usually I'm a general/ bunk counselor, but this year I'm off to the Pocanos to work as Arts and Crafts Director.

I've got a bunch of great projects lined up, but I don't think they'd be of much interest to the boys I'm going to be working with. Matter of fact- I'm downright terrified that they won't be interested!! The children I'll be working with are ages 6-17.....

What sort of projects did you do in camp or school that really grabbed your attention?

 

[ShooShooBaby]

when i worked with school-agers, two specific things i remember the boys going NUTS over were making those beady-baby key rings made out of pony beads, and tie-dye. everyone (boys and girls) loved making anything tie-die. oh, and that craft where they put plasticky beads on a little pegboard and then you iron them and they make.. i don't know. they all liked doing those too - i'm sure you know what i'm talking about! when i did american girls workshops with kids at the bookstore i worked at, a lot of the crafts in the american girls craft books were a big hit. mostly girls came, but i think boys might like it too - plus you can add in a little history lesson about the time period the craft came from!

 

[fourstarbanner]

I was always a fan of leather pounding. Boys can make key chains and girls can make hair barrettes. Or you could make candles-dip candles or sand ones are especially cool! You can use big blocks of wax you can get at Hobby Lobby and color it with old crayons!

 

[Dan G]

Leather pounding and tie dye was fun. Get some bows and arrows!!

 

[pigeon toe]

Clay or Fimo is always fun! I think it's something boys would really like as well. You could just let them go crazy and make whatever they want. For a cheaper method you could make salt dough and dye it different colors with food coloring.

 

[ShooShooBaby]

ooh, things like Flubber are fun to make AND play with as well!

i second the clay or salt dough idea.

what about making plaster of paris casts of nature-type objects?

and what would camp be with out lanyards??

 

[carebear]

You could teach knotwork and weaving.

Sure it sounds girlie, but making monkey fist keyrings or a platted coaster for mom is fun.

Also they can learn how to make nets and sinnets (the wraps you see on boat railings).

Knots are great, it's one of those skill sets that comes in handy all the time but most people are clueless about.

You could teach some of the common hitches and knots and have the kids race to do them. All you need is a heavier cable to tie in a circle around some trees to give them something to tie off to. You stand in the middle to teach.

 

[olive bleu]

funny enough, before i was married, i worked at a summer camp, as the Arts & Crafts director

I will have to try to remember some stuff we did, but what sticks in my memory is the 'life-size' papier-mache giraffe that we made .lol

I am a huge supporter of summer camp, and i am drooling right now, just reading this.In fact, I love camp so much, I held my wedding there!!It was very a very casual affair obviously,but in the last camp( the wedding was the day after camp closed) i got the kids to make decorations for the dining hall

 

[Paisley]

Just recently, I made plans to take a trip to the place where I went to art camp.

I drew and painted, and still have some of my paintings.

Right now, I'm looking at a wire letter holder I bought. Maybe the boys would enjoy working with wire and sautering.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Being a sort of amateur-naturalist-in-training, I'm all for things that get them outside and into nature...I second the plaster casts of things, particularly (if you can find them) animal tracks. Lots of websites with info on how to do this...

 

[carebear]

Is it going to be sunny? You could have them do woodburning (names on plaques and things) with magnifying glasses.

Shouldn't lose more than half the forest and 80% of the non-flying insect population.

 

[Parallel Guy]

All good suggestions. I teach young thugs...yes, yes, I know, but I teach in jail. You can pretty much get away with anything if it's presented right. I have found the "all real men know how to..." approach works well. It doesn't matter if its welding or flower arranging.

 

[Cherry_Bombb]

funny enough, before i was married, i worked at a summer camp, as the Arts & Crafts director

I will have to try to remember some stuff we did, but what sticks in my memory is the 'life-size' papier-mache giraffe that we made .lol

I am a huge supporter of summer camp, and i am drooling right now, just reading this.In fact, I love camp so much, I held my wedding there!!It was very a very casual affair obviously,but in the last camp( the wedding was the day after camp closed) i got the kids to make decorations for the dining hall

That is really great! I'm sure the kids were so excited!! Do you have any pictures? I'd love to see them!

I love all the ideas. Especially knot making and leather work. I've never done much of either, so it's not something I even considered! I'm definately going to have to teach myself some.

I'm certain I'll be doing tie-dying and fimo!! I'm worse than the kids when it comes to tie-dye!! I never wear it, but I love it so much I'd tie dye anything in reach!

 

[Cherry_Bombb]

All good suggestions. I teach young thugs...yes, yes, I know, but I teach in jail. You can pretty much get away with anything if it's presented right. I have found the "all real men know how to..." approach works well. It doesn't matter if its welding or flower arranging.

That's a good point... I'm going to have to work on my persuasion!!

 

[Cherry_Bombb]

Is it going to be sunny? You could have them do woodburning (names on plaques and things) with magnifying glasses.

Shouldn't lose more than half the forest and 80% of the non-flying insect population.

Wow!! I can just see it now "Heathyr- I wanted to see what would leave a burn faster, the block of wood or my shoelace.... Oops!"

I like the idea though!! I'll just have to make sure to do it on a day when everyone had their V8 hehe

 

[Cherry_Bombb]

Being a sort of amateur-naturalist-in-training, I'm all for things that get them outside and into nature...I second the plaster casts of things, particularly (if you can find them) animal tracks. Lots of websites with info on how to do this...

That sounds great! I did something like this when I was in college- we made our own objects and then poured plaster, but the nature craft is just what I need! And I could make it a project with the backpacking/ nature group!

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I was shipped off to summer camp every summer from the age of 6 to the age of 17. Thank goodness my parents were nice enough to send me to a co-ed camp!
The things I remember most that the boys seemed to enjoy about arts and crafts were candle making, the drip kind which you dip string into scented wax of different colors. Or, we had different shaped bottles in which we could pour the wax into in different colored layers. Sometimes we'd add colored sand in alternating layers. I seem to remember we used to make them in old coca cola bottles, if you can get your hands on them.
Any type of woodworking was fun and so was pottery, especially the pottery wheel. Tye Dye is always a good choice and gimp. I remember a lot of the guys would make gimp key rings, as well as embroidery bracelets. The bracelets that were weaved in different styles out of embroidery thread. I don't know if that's just a New England thing, or something that guys wore 18 years ago, but I remember it was cool for the guys to wear them.
For the younger kids I remember we had this electric wheel that we'd put a piece of paper on, the wheel would spin and we'd splatter paint on it and it'd make funky designs. We used to use turn these papers into stationary. I think they sell these types of wheels at toy stores. That is if the camp will give you some sort of purchasing power. Or you could always tell the buyer about it so they can pick one up.
I also remember that the younger kids seemed to love shrinky dinks. Gosh, I haven't thought of those in ages. How I loved those things!!

Have a wonderful time. I think it is so great that you have a job like this. I spent one summer as a CIT, counselor in training (not to be confused with CYT, cute young thing!). But, I had been spending my summers at camp for so long that I was kind of burned out, so I ended up not returning the following year as a counselor. I always kind of regretted that because I had so much fun at camp, and adored all of my counselors. Kind of wish I had taken one summer to give back what I had received.
Camp is fun, working with kids can be a blast (that's just my opinion!). I hope you will have some time to check in with us from time to time and let us know how it's going. The Pokanoe's are amazingly beautiful, you are lucky to be able to spend your summer up there.

OOOh, I just saw the plaster casts idea, that is great. Also, if you choose to do a joint task with the nature group, flower and leaf pressing is always nice. You can make stationary and bookmarks out of things you find in nature.

 

[Dan G]

I was a camp counselor. Guess what kind of kids I got? Sure, that kids a trouble maker, lets give him to Dan.:eusa_doh: Dan can chase him around all week long and make sure he's not throwing rocks at girls, cheating at basketball, or stealing everyone else's craft goodies. AHAHAHAHA!!! I had cabins of nothing but a dozen HELL RAISERS!!!! Dan quickly became one giant wrestling match. From dawn till dusk. Oh the camp memories.... I had a lot of fun though!lol

 

[Cherry_Bombb]

I'm not sure if it's a New England thing to be perfectly honest. I grew up in Westfield, Ma ( I see you live in Boston!), and all of my camping was done around there. When I became a counselor for the first time, it was near Albany, and we did lanyards and friendship bracelets there.

I love working with kids. I've been in fashion design since I was 17 or 18 years old and I'm really burnt out with it. I love making clothes for myself and my friends, but I'm exhausted from doing it for a living. So I've been contemplating going back to school to get my degree in Art Ed. When my boss found out about this recently, she let me go back to camp to find out if that's what I wanted to do. And I have my job as soon as I get back- which is really great.

I love the idea of pressing flowers. I thought I might try to incorporate that idea into my paper making. By pressing them all together it makes for really dimensional flowers as well as textured paper which is great for scrapbooking, card making, or just being beautiful works in and of themselves!

 

[Cherry_Bombb]

Guess what kind of kids I got? Sure, that kids a trouble maker, lets give him to Dan.:eusa_doh:

Haha! I can really sympathize with that!! I would have to sit O.D. watch over one of the boys bunks at night because they had 2 counselors and our bunk had 4. And they loved nothing more than torturing me! I couldn't go into their cabin after lights out, so I had to sit with my back against the door and listen for any disturbance. So of course the boys would be rowdy because I couldn't actually do anything but hiss at them through the screen door to be quiet and go to sleep!!

They LOVED the nights I was there!